NFL coach Jack Del Rio, who was fined and forced to apologize last week for saying the January 6 riots were not as bad as the 2020 riots over George Floyd‘s death that caused billions of dollars in damage, deleted his Twitter account Saturday.
Del Rio, who had nearly 100,000 followers on the account, shut it down just one day after the Washington Commanders, who employ him as defensive coordinator, fined him $100,000. In comparing the rioting that followed Floyd’s death to the January 6 Capitol riot, Del Rio labeled the events of January 6 a “dust up.”
Jack Del Rio Twitter update: pic.twitter.com/JV0VIjFRrQ
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) June 11, 2022
“Businesses are being burned down, no problem and then we have a dust-up at the Capitol, nothing burned down and we’re gonna make that a major deal,” Del Rio said Wednesday, after he was asked about a tweet from earlier in the week where he said he would love to understand the “whole story” of what happened during the summer of 2020.
The former head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars and then Oakland Raiders went on to clarify his comment.
“I’m being respectful. I just asked a simple question,” he said. “Let’s get right down to it: What did I ask? A simple question. Why are we not looking into [the protests], if we’re going to talk about [the Capitol riot]? Why are we not looking into those things?”
Commanders Head Coach Ron Rivera announced the fine Friday, and the team said the proceeds would go to the U.S. Capitol Police Memorial Fund.
“(Coach Del Rio’s) comments do not reflect the organization’s views and are extremely hurtful to our great community in the DMV,” Rivera commented. “As we saw (Thursday) night in the (Congress) hearings, what happened on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an act of domestic terrorism. A group of citizens attempted to overturn the results of a free and fair election, and as a result, lives were lost and the Capitol building was damaged.”
Del Rio has long been an active Twitter user, often opining on current events in the United States. Earlier this week, lawmakers in Virginia tabled a bill to help fund a new stadium for the team, with one state senator noting Del Rio’s tweet didn’t help things. It was unclear if Del Rio decided to delete his Twitter account or did so on orders from the team.